two death row inmates won appeals in the Florida Supreme Court.

two death row inmates won appeals in the Florida Supreme Court.In the first case, Jeffrey Weaver was sentenced to death by Broward County Judge Mark Speiser in August 1999 even thought the jury recommended that Weaver be sentenced to life in prison.
The unsigned ruling upheld Weaver's conviction but vacated his death sentence and ordered that he be sentenced to life in prison. Weaver was convicted of fatally shooting Officer Bryant Peney, 27, during a chase in January 1996. The high court said the trial judge erred in overriding the jury, which recommended life in prison by a vote of 8 to 4. Under Florida law, a judge cannot condemn a killer after a jury has recommended life in prison unless evidence is "clear and convincing that virtually no reasonable person could differ."
In the 2nd capital case, the court reversed both the conviction and the death sentence given to Michael Mordenti for the June 7, 1989 killing of a 54-year-old woman, Thelma Royston. Mordenti, now 63, has benn on death row since the 1991 trial. The court said the failure of prosecutors to give Mordenti's attorney evidence that might have helped him undermined its confidence in the trial. Mordenti was convicted primarily through the testimony of his ex-wife, who was given immunity. Mordenti's attorney wasn't told about a datebook that contradicted her testimony or about information about her relationship with the husband of the murder victim.
"There was no money trail, no eyewitnesses, no confession, no murder weapon, no blood, no footprints and no DNA evidence linking Mordenti to the murder," Thursday's unsigned opinion reads.